Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph

[danbrotherston]

Right, my idea is to divert, so traffic coming into town from Guelph would end up on Bingeman’s Centre Rd. and eventually the Wellington St. bridge over the expressway unless it specifically turned.

I claim my idea would be almost as good for economic integration. According to Google Maps, the distance from the Wellington St. bridge over the expressway to the Hanlon expressway is just under 18km. With improvements short of a full superhighway, it should be possible to do this at 80km/h, which would take just under 15 minutes. With a superhighway, it should be possible to do at 120km/h, which would take just under 10 minutes. So the superhighway saves 5 minutes. Is that really worth what we’re spending?

But realistically my idea is not happening, and as you point out, there has been lots of money sunk already. I guess the land could be sold off, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

The existing Highway 7 has major development happening along it.  It's extremely unsafe in a few places now and will keep getting worse with the hundreds/thousands of new houses being built.  It needs new roundabouts / intersections and lower speed limits in places.  There's no way that the road can support an average speed of 80km/hour from Wellington St to the Hanlon (and it doesn't now - Google Maps says 18 minutes).

Yes, it does have safety issues, and yes, it does have development.  That's why we should improve the road with a median, and bus lanes in order to shift development to a more sustainable model, while also improving safety, at a far lower cost than building a new expressway.